DMcG, what's a Betsy?
{from your comment which I got was snark: "Well, you start off as a trainee, after several years you get promoted to performer and with sufficient skill you get to be a Betsy..."}

****

With regard to funding folk art, my adopted state has certain governmental departments that provide competitive grants to individual folk artists, folk groups, and those who reseach/and provide commentary on folk arts. Those departments are the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Humanities, and the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission. However, because it is competitive, I believe it is difficult for individuals or groups to receive small or larger size grants {about $300 to $5,000 or so, if I'm not mistaken} unless they have built up a reputation for quality "work" in their communities.

In addition to these governmental grants, because my city is home base for a number of large, multi-national corporations, those corporations also provide funding for the arts, including some funding for what are called "community based projects". Some of these projects would be considered folk arts. But again, though it's not easy to get this funding, it can be done.